I was so disappointed that my pumpkins didn't pan out last year. I wanted so badly to grow a pumpkin, and got so close! So I wanted to give it one more try. My failure last year didn't come without lessons learned. The biggest one being that pumpkin vines grow out of control. Last year I planted 12 pumpkin seeds, in addition to some butternut squash. Wow, was that way too much for our little garden! This year, I planted one single solitary seed (actually planted two to begin with, but when I saw the first one growing so quickly, I pulled out the second one, thinking that the one would be plenty!). I was hoping to be able to plant the seeds I had tried to save from my pie pumpkin last year, but those seeds had turned moldy (my fault - always store seeds in an envelope and never in a plastic bag), so I bought some seeds for casper white pumpkins. Andrew thinks they're creepy, but I think they're pretty, and can be used for baking! Here is my pumpkin vine, planted about 6 weeks ago.
(They're looking a little sad today because they didn't get watered until about noon, and it's 105 degrees outside, but they'll perk up with another drink this evening.)In another few weeks this bad boy will have filled up the whole garden!
I'm hoping that this year will be more successful than last year. I'm hopeful as I have already seen some female buds starting, although I haven't had any flowers open yet. Hopefully in a couple weeks we'll have some blooms and soon after that we'll have some fruit starting. If not... I officially give up on pumpkins!
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